PDEA hosts Asean airport interdiction meeting

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), in coordination with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Secretariat, will host the 4th Asean Airport Interdiction Task Force Meeting on May 21-22, 2014 at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City.

PDEA Director General Undersecretary Arturo Cacdac Jr. said the two-day meeting aims to unify interagency investigation and operation at international airports to effectively intercept the trafficking and transit of illegal drugs in the region.

Expected to attend the regional meeting are officials responsible for national interdiction operations from the 10 Asean member-countries of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the AseanSecretariat.

Cacdac said the interdiction meeting will work to unify inter-agency drug investigation and operation at international airports, particularly within the Asean countries; establish a reliable and sustainable information and intelligence gathering system for investigative purposes; adopt measures that support operational efficiency such as controlled delivery, financial and technological investigations; and develop guidelines for knowledge management of airport interdiction practice among Asean international airports and checkpoints.

Also expected to attend the two-day affair are member-agencies of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Inter-Agency Drug Interdiction Task Group, an inter-agency collaboration headed by the PDEA, whose members include the Manila International Airport Authority, the Office for Transportation Security, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice-National Prosecution Service, the Bureau of Customs, the Philippine National Police Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force, the Bureau of Immigration and the Philippine National Police Aviation Security Group.